Appendix N Review: The Face in the Abyss

Back to Abraham Merritt, because mind-blowing forgotten fiction is good for you.

Today it's The Face in the Abyss, which is a fix-up novel published in 1931 and based off two novelettes: The Face in the Abyss published in Argosy All-Story Weekly in 1923 and The Snake Mother published in Argosy in 1930, seven years later.

If you're keeping track, its technically his fifth novel, but only because it took so long between parts. The Metal Monster was 1920 and The Ship of Ishtar was 1924.

The story considers one Nick Graydon, an American mining engineer recruited for an adventure in South America in search of lost Incan treasure. The three other men are Starrett, a rough and tumble drunk, Soames, a lanky New Englander, and Dancret, a small, quiet Frenchman. They get lost deep in the jungle and tensions, already high, erupt when a beautiful young woman named Suarra is caught by Starrett around their camp. Graydon knocks out Starrett in a fit of berserker rage (the first of many he will experience over the course of the adventure) and learns the woman, Suarra, speaks a local language. The attraction between the two is immediate, and Graydon lets Suarra go, and she promises to bring back treasure to get the other men to leave the valley they're in.

It doesn't go well. Graydon's companions think he's ratting them out and their greed gets the better of them. They finagle their way into having Suarra take them to the source of the treasure, and so she does. A hidden valley where powerful men ride dinosaurs, and a giant obsidian face sweats gold out of its eyes and mouth.

Then it gets wild. Dinosaur arena fights, lizardmen, winged messenger snakes, advanced ancient technology, refugees from a lost civilization from now-frozen Antarctica called Yu-Atlanchi (and sharing common elements with the Atlantis myth), the shadowy Nimir LORD OF EVIL, creepy but friendly red spider-men called weavers and their leader Kon, and a mysterious and beautiful Snake Mother named Adana, who has powers beyond what the city itself has.

Graydon is a solid protagonist. Intelligent but quick to action, even when it gets him in trouble. Strong-willed and prone to the red mist rage when his sense of honor is thoroughly offended, he's a better hero than the bland crew from The Metal Monster but not quite on the level of John Kenton or (especially) Larry O'Keefe. Graydon's also an expert shot with a rifle.

Its also clear that Merritt's cast of stock characters is in full effect. Kon is the misshapen but strong and loyal friend, Regor is the battle-scarred big guy, and so on. Shockingly enough, the love interest Suarra ISN'T a redhead but a brunette.

The real star is the mysterious Adana. Upper-body of a beautiful woman, lower body of a snake, and ALL monstergirl, she's not the villain. Far from it, she's one of the most altruistic characters in the book. Which is funny when she's discussing melancholic matters with Graydon and then pausing to examine how she looks in a mirror. She feels like a real person with quirks and vanities, and a snake body.

Like all of the other Merritt books I've read so far, he just throws out one wild idea after another at the audience and keeps everything tied together and building until an explosive finale. Really solid stuff. I'm not going anywhere near spoilers, but I'll say this: it reads like one of those weird high-concept AD&D 1^st Edition adventure modules. In a good way.

Absolutely recommended. Merritt is a goldmine.

Its also interesting to note that in my online wanderings, I found a set of photos from the 1980 Westercon on the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society website. Aside from being an amusing time capsule of hideous wallpaper and some very excellent early cosplay work, one of the guests was dressed up as Adana the Snake Mother. Which means Merritt was relevant as late as the 80s to inspire detailed (and bold) costume work.